Barrel-filler.



-H. W. COLBY. BARREL FILLER, APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28. 1908.

"Patented June 15, 1909;

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H. w. COLBY-J BARREL FILLER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28, 1906.

Patented June 15, 1909.

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H. W. COLBY.

BARREL FILLER.

APPLICATION FILED PM. 2a, 1906.

Patented June 15, 1909.

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H. .w. COLBY BARREL FILLER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28,1806.

Patented June 15, 1909.1

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HARRY W. COLBY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO AUTOMATIC BACKING MACHINE I COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS ,A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

B ARRE L-FILLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 15, 1909.

Application filed February 28, 1906. Serial No. 303,544.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY WV. COLBY, a citizen of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Barrel-Fillers, of which the following is a specification.

My principal object in this invention is to produce a filling machine which eliminates the greater part of the frame work usual in the construction of such a machine and in which a motor cylinder and its piston and piston rod supports, raise and lower without framework the entire filling mechanism, and which while it is thoroughly eflicient and automatic in operation, shall be extremely simple and cheap in construction and convenient to operate. To accomplish this a weight resting on the sealing head and sur rounding the filling tube for pressing the seal to the package is used, this weight itself acting in part as a substitute for framing and surrounding the filling tube enables me to have all the filling mechanism in a straight line dependent from the piston rod.

In the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a front view of one of my improved barrel fillers, showing a single filler of which there are usually three mounted side by side upon the same framework and tank, but as these filling mechanisms are all alike, the single showing is sufficient to illustrate the inven tion. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Figs. 3 and 4, the latter being a continuation of the former, show a broken section through the motor cylinder of the filling tube. Figs. 5 and 6 show a similar broken section taken at right angles to Figs. 3 and 4, Fig. 6 being, however, upon a larger scale than Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a cross section on the line '77 of Fig. 2.

In said drawings, 20 is the supporting framework; 21 the beer tank rigidly at tached to said framework; 22 one of the brackets rigidly fastened to the side of the beer tank, for supporting the filling mechanism by means of a counterbalance lever 23, upon which the filling mechanism can swing on a horizontal pivot to position it for the bung-hole of the barrel while filling, and to cause it by reason of the pivotal counterbalance when released to swing and be held away from said bung hole as in my earlier patent 623,986.

24 is the motor-cylinder adapted to use compressed air in this instance.

25 is the compressed air supply for the motor-cylinder led to the valve 26. This valve 26, when its handle 27 is in the horizontal position shown in the drawings is closed against admission of air to the cylinder. When said handle 27 is raised, the valve is so constructed as to admit the compressed air to the lower end of the cylinder and open the exhaust 28 to the upper end of the cylinder, and when said handle is pulled down below the horizontal, the valve admits air to the upper end of the cylinder and opens the exhaust from the lower end thereof. This handle 27 is connected by a rod 29 to the end of a lever 30, the other end of which is rovided with the handhold 31. And it will e seen from the reversal of the movement by the lever 30 that when this handhold is lifted upward, the piston 32 of the cylinder 24 will be caused to rise, and when said handhold is pulled downward, the piston will be caused to descend. In other words, the operator moves the handhold up when he desires the piston to move up and down when he desires the piston to move down, and places the hand hold in the middle position when he wishes the piston to remain stationary, and the air to be cut off from the cylinder.

The piston rod is attached to a rigid bail-piece 34 connected directly to the head of the filling tube 35 so that the piston is moved up and down, the said filling tube will be moved up and down. The lower end of the filling tube 35 is fitted with the interior plug-valve 36, the valve-stem 37 of which. extends up through stuffingbox at the top of the filling-tube and is attached. to a slide 38 which is movable up and down in the bail 341-. Between this slide 38 and the upper element of the bail is a strong coiled spring 39. Stop rods 40, H) extend up from the sliding bar 38 and pass loosely through the lower base of the cylinder head outside of the cylinder and are provided at their upper ends with stop pins 57, 57, which stop pins in the downward movement of the rods come in contact with the cylinder head and limit the downward movement of the sliding bar 38, the purpose being to arrest the downward movement of said bar 38 and the valve rod attached to it at a point before the downward movement of the filling tube has reached its limit; thus to hold the plug-- valve 36 stationary while the filling-tube moves down away from it, thus opening the valve. The filling tube 35 has its upper end by the connection 41 and the flexible hose 42 placed in communication with the beer supply in the lower part of the tank 21 so that at all times said filling tube is filled with beer so long as there is any in the tank. The plug valve 36 prevents this beer from escaping out of the tube so long as said valve is closed. The filling tube 35 slides down in a closed air and liquid tight fit through a stuffing-box in the sealing head 43. This sealing head 43 is provided with the air chamber or passage 44 and has its lower end formed in tube fashion to enter the bung hole, the tubular extension being provided with a rubber gasket 45 to render the fit airand gas-tight between the sealing-head and the barrel. The lower end of the filling tube is enlarged and formed with a shoulder 46 that sets up against the lower end of the tubular extension of the sealing-head and closes the lower end of the air chamber 44, at all times when the filling tube is raised. This shoulder also affords a means for sup porting the sealing-head upon the fillingtube.

The air chamber or passage 44 by means of the connection 47 and the flexible airpipe 48 is connected to the compressed-air or -gas supply in the upper part of the beer tank 21. The usual sight-glass, etc., 49 is shown as interposed in this air or gas ommunication. Connected directly to the sealing-head and supported thereon is a vertical hollow weight 50. This weight is a very important part of the construction and enables me to dispense with a great portion of the framework ordinarily required in machines of this character, and to support the entire fillingtube and sealing-head mechanism directly from the piston rod of the cylinder whereby the entire construction is simplified and the cost greatly lessened. The essential feature of the weight is that it is entirely supported upon the sealing head 43 and surrounds the filling tube. As the weight swings with the filling tube a straight line suspension is preserved and the mechanism nicely balanced from its point of suspensionthe piston rod.

The weight and the sealing-head. may be made in one piece of metal, if desired, but I have found it more convenient to cast the weight separately and secure it to the sealing-head, as the weight is usually made of cast iron and the sealing-head of brass. At the upper end of the weight is a projecting stop 51. A. vertical notched bar 52 is pivotally suspended from the lower frame-head of the motor cylinder by a pivotal support 53, the side of this bar being cut with a series of notches 54, 55 and 56. The arrangement is such that when. the sealing head from its uppermost position is lowered 'to engage a barrel of largest diameter, the stop 51 will not descend far enough to engage the notch 56. But when a barrel of the next smaller diameter is being filled, said stop 51 will engage this notch 56 and the notch will arrest the upward movement of theweight and the sealing head and the piston. So too, with barrels of the next smaller diameters, this upward movement will be arrested at the notch 55 or the notch 54 the purpose being to save the needless up and down. movement of the sealing head, the filling tube and the piston in the filling of barrels of the smaller diameters beyond such amount of movement as the clearance of the barrel by the filling apparatus requires. By swinging the notched bar 52 outward to disengage it from the stop, the piston can at any time be caused to lift the filling-tube, sealinghead and weights to the highest position. This entire mechanism, it will benoted, is extremely simple and cheap in its construction, is wholly open to examination and, is not likely to get out of order.

The operation of filling a barrel is as follows: Suppose a barrel of the larger diameter is to be filled. The filling apparatus at its highest position stands by its pivotal lever support and the counterbalance weight of its parts swung with its slower end toward the tank. T he barrel being positioned upon the barrel support properly, to bring its bunghole up ermost, the operator takes hold of the lling apparatus and swings it out into position with the lower end of the filling tube vertically above the bung hole. Then he pulls down upon the handle 31. This movement admits air to the motor cylinder above the piston and immediately the piston begins to move down carrying down with it the filling tube. And as the sealing head is supported upon the shoulders 46 of the filling tube, said sealing head and its supported weight 50 descend also until the tubular extension of the sealing head ene ters the bung hole and the gasket of the sealing head encounters the barrel, thus, sealing the interior of the barrel from the outer air. As soon as this sealing is effected, the filling tube continues to descend, and instantly the air chamber 44 is opened and the compressed air or gas supply from the upper portion of the tank begins to flow into the barrel to equalize the pressure in the latter with the pressure in the tank, and this equalization is effected before the filling tube reaches its lowermost position, and consequently before the foot valve of said tube is opened to permit the fiow of beer into the barrel. When the piston 32 has reached nearly to the bottom of its stroke, the stop pins in the upper ends of the rods will come in contact with the lower frame-head of the cylinder and thus arrest the further downward movement of the sliding bar 38 and consequently arrest the further downward movement of the valve rod 37 and the plug valve 36 at the lower end of said rod. But the piston 32 will continue to descend, compressing the spring 39 and the filling tube will be carried down a short distance farther, thus opening the plug toot valve by carrying the seat of said valve down away from the plug. And this permits the beer to flow into the barrel until the barrel is filled. After the barrel is filled, the beer will continue to How in and rise in the air passage and into the sight glass which has been regulated to receive enough beer to compensate for the displacement of the filling tube and its contents. The operator, observing the rise of the beer in the sight glass and knowing that the barrel has been filled, pushes up on the handle 31 and the piston at once begins to rise, lilting up the filling tube until the spring held plug valve is again seated and the lower end of the filling tube thus closed. The filling tube continues to rise until its shoulder 46 engages the tubular projection. of the sealing head, whereupon the air ports in said sealing head closed, preparatory to lifting the head out of engagement with the barrel. But while the filling tube was being lifted to this position,

the beer that has risen in the sight glass, flows back into the barrel to compensate for the displacement of the filling tube and its contents, so that when the shoulder 46 on the filling tube had encountered and closed said passage, the barrel was solidly full of beer. Now on the further upward movement of the filling tube, the sealing head and its weights are lifted and the whole filling apparatus becomes disengaged from the barrel, instantly the lever pivotal counterbalance of these parts acts to swing said filling apparatus away from the barrel so that the operator can have opportunity before the beer begins to foam, to drive the bung. With smaller barrels, the operation is the same, except that the notches on the swinging bar engaging the stop on the upper end of the weight prevent the sealing-head and the filling-tube from being lifted by the piston unnecessarily high above the barrel.

I claim 1. In a filling machine, the combination of a cylinder and its piston for operating and supporting the filling mechanism comprising the sealing head and filling tube, of a valve within the filling tube for opening and closing it, a valve stem attached to the valve plug extending upward through the filling tube head, of a vertical slidable rod attached to the valve stem and means to limit the downward movement of the rod whereby the valve plug will be held stationary while the valve seat in the filling tube moves away from the valve plug to open the filling tube, substantially as specified.

2. In a filling machine, the combination of a cylinder and its piston for operating and supporting the filling mechanism comprising the sealingdiead and filling-tube, of a yoke connecting the filling tube to the piston, a valve for closing the filling tube, a valve stem extending upward through the filling tube head, a rod slidable through the yoke and attached to the valve stem, and means to limit the movement of the valve to open the filling tube, substantially as specified. 3. In a barrel filler, the combination with the tank, the motor cylinder and piston, the sealing-head, the filling-tube telescoping through said head, of a shoulder on the lower end of the filling-tube for engaging the sealing head in the rise of the filling-tube, supporting said head and closing the air passage from said head into the barrel, substantially as specified.

4. In a barrel filler, the combination with the tank, the sealing-head, the filling-tube telescoping through said head, of a shoulder on the lower end of the filling-tube for engaging the sealing head in the rise of the fillingtube, supporting said head and closing the air passage from said head into the barrel, and an interior plug foot valve at the lower end of the filling tube, closed by the upward movement of the filling tube and opened by the downward movement thereof, substantially as specified.

5. The combination with the sealing-head and telescoping filling-tube, the latter being provided with a toot-valve and a shoulder for supporting the sealing-head, of a motor cylinder, the piston of which is connected directly to the filling-tube, and indirectly through the intervention of a spring to the stem of the foot-valve, substantially as specified.

6. The combination with the sealing-head and telescoping filling-tube, the latter being provided with a foot-valve and a shoulder for supporting the sealing-head, of a motor cylinder, the piston of which is connected directly to the filling-tube, and indirectly through the intervention of a spring to the stem of the foot-valve, said valve-stem being connected to means for stopping or limiting its descent before the filling-tube has reached its lowest position, to thus open the valve, substantially as specified.

7. The combination of the motor cylinder and its piston and piston-rod, the bail piece between the piston-rod and the filling-tube, the filling-tube having a foot-valve and valve-stem, the sliding bar attached to the upper end of the valve-stem, the spring interposed between this sliding-bar and the upper member of the bail piece, and the sliding l ing-head for holding the sealing-head down, guide-rods extending up from the sliding-bar a stop for limiting the upward movement of and provided with stops at their upper eX- the sealing-head and avertical pivotally suptreinities to engage a, stationary part to limit ported notched bar for engaging said stop, 5 tlie cllownwlz rd motvement of the fvalve fliolelfore substantially as specified. tie ower imit o' movement 0 tie in tube is reached, substantially as specified. b HARRY COLBY? 8. The combination with the sealing-head Witnesses: and the filling-tube, the latter supporting the H. M. MUNDAY, 10 former, of a weight supported upon the seal- \VILLIAM A. G IGER. 

